Release judgment criteria・Is the maintenance system and contract clear?

04/12/202020/10/2021Release Judgment

In the development process, check the maintenance system and the status of maintenance contracts.

This article 　introduces the maintenance system and the status of maintenance contracts out of the seven items that Father Gutara checked to judge the process quality in the release judgment . The other 6 items (development planning, software design, implementation test planning, concerns and risk management, baseline management, gate process implementation status) will be introduced in the previous and subsequent articles. Please have a look there.

6. Maintenance system and maintenance contract status

The software development process we’ve seen so far is an important part of the management process up to the time the software is released. If you release the software and that’s it, that’s all you need to do, but when you release the software, maintenance for that software usually occurs.　

Software maintenance is, in a few words, the provision of maintenance services for shipped software . Specifically , the software maintenance service is the release of software with bug fixes and the release of software with additional functions . Maintenance services may be provided free of charge or for a fee .

And when the software is released to the market, it is necessary to have an outline of the maintenance service , such as what kind of maintenance service will be provided to the market for a period of time and for a fee .

If this is released without being decided, users who receive the software will not be able to use the software with confidence. It’s easy to give up because there is no maintenance service for improving functions, but it is a problem for users that there is no release of bug-fixed software.

Providing maintenance services is also an important part of software quality

Providing maintenance services is important and integrated with the provision of the software itself. Therefore, when determining the release of software, it is also necessary to confirm whether the software maintenance service is specifically planned . It is not the quality of the software itself, but it may be easier to understand if you think about checking the quality of maintenance services as one of the quality items for the life cycle of the software .

Then, what kind of items should be checked for the quality of maintenance service ? Father Gutara judged the quality of maintenance service by checking the contents decided at the time of release for the following items.

• Maintenance service definition
• Demarcation point of responsibility when a problem occurs
• Primary response and secondary method when a problem occurs
• Whether or not there is a maintenance contract with the customer
• Maintenance plan for in-house and development contractor maintenance system

Maintenance service definition

First of all, it is necessary to clarify what kind of maintenance service will be provided to the market. Non- degree modification provides the version of software, function improved offer of version software, at the time of failure occurrence primary isolate such as implementation and technical cooperation, is whether to provide any maintenance services, you should have determined by the software release and integrated.　

Is the fixed maintenance service content clearly stated as some kind of document and approved as a company, and is the content agreed with the customer? That is the first item to check.

Demarcation point of responsibility when a problem occurs

Next, in the event of a failure in the market, it is necessary to clarify the demarcation point of responsibility . Of the maintenance services, it is necessary to deal with problems when there is a problem with your company’s software, but if there is a problem with another company’s software, you cannot handle it yourself.

If your company’s software is operating independently, you do not need to consider the demarcation point of responsibility, but if it is operating in cooperation with other companies’ products or software, it will be linked via some interface. it is more, the interface to the boundary and, itself and others of responsibility demarcation point exists.

Then, when a defect occurs in the market, it is necessary to have a means to objectively determine whether the cause of the defect is on the company’s side or the other company’s side of the demarcation point of responsibility . At the time of the release decision meeting, make sure that the demarcation point of responsibility is clear and that the method of determining which side of the demarcation point of responsibility is clear.

Primary and secondary response when a problem occurs

When a problem occurs in the market, the first step is to receive a problem report or consultation from the user . Next, if the cause of the defect is found to be in-house, secondary measures such as investigation of the cause of the defect, correction of the defect, and confirmation of the correction effect will occur as necessary.

Which department implements this primary response and how does it implement the secondary response? We will confirm at the time of the release decision meeting whether or not has been decided concretely.

Whether or not there is a maintenance contract with the customer

Software maintenance services are often provided as paid services, in which case a maintenance contract is exchanged with the customer. If the product or market is still on sale to some extent, the maintenance contract used for the existing product exists as a sample, so I don’t think there will be a situation where there is no maintenance contract yet when the software is released.

However, the first product Li or was a lease, for the first time in the market , such as the case was the release of the product to, the maintenance contract of the in-house not in time ready to give in some cases. Isn’t that the case, and if the maintenance contract hasn’t been finalized yet, by when will it be finalized? I will confirm that at the time of release review.

Maintenance plan for in-house and development contractor maintenance system

The final item to check is whether the maintenance plan for the maintenance system is in place. A maintenance plan is basically a budget plan to secure the equipment and personnel needed to provide maintenance services .

If you do not provide a defect-corrected version of the software as a maintenance service, all you need is maintenance equipment in stock to provide a replacement for the failed product . Other than that, all you need to do is the cost of the warehouse to store the inventory, the cost of transporting the substitutes, and the labor cost to manage them.

However, if the defect-fixed version of the software is provided as a maintenance service, an environment that reproduces the status of the defect in order to investigate the cause of the defect, a software development environment that corrects the software at the defect location, and investigation / defect repair of these A software engineer is required to create the version software, and the labor cost of the engineer is also required.

During the period of providing maintenance services, it is necessary to pay the costs necessary to provide these maintenance services in some way . Is there a plan to pay the costs? It is necessary to confirm the viewpoint at the time of release.